(i) Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a solar power generator apparatus for harnessing energy from the sun and for conserving the water so used by such apparatus.
(ii) Related Application
This invention is related to applicant's copending U.S. application Ser. No. 070,329 filed Aug. 27, 1979 (now U.S. Pat. No. 4,253,307).
(iii) Description of the Prior Art
Electricity is one of the most widely used forms of energy. It is known that electricity may be produced by hydroelectric generators, combustion engines powered by expensive fuel, e.g. oil or natural gas, or by electromotive steam engines powered by coal, or by the use of nuclear energy. These procedures suffer the deficiency that they may use dimenishing non-renewable resources, and of pollution of the environment.
It would be therefore be advantageous if electricity could be produced with the advantages pointed out above but with fewer of the aforementioned disadvantages while conserving the water used in the production thereof.
Many proposals have been made to achieve these ends. In one proposal, that provided by Canadian Pat. No. 145,581 issued Jan. 28, 1913 to R. A. Fessenden, apparatus was provided for obtaining power from the sun's radiant energy, which included the combination of a reservoir and a working fluid therein exposed to be heated by the sun's radiant energy, means for protecting such fluid against loss of heat by convection, a low pressure turbine and means to operate it by that fluid, and an upper fluid reservoir and a lower fluid reservoir combined to store energy generated by the turbine. The problem which that inventor apparently desired to solve was that of protection of the working fluid against heat loss by convection.
In another system, that provided by Canadian Pat. No. 505,536 issued Sept. 7, 1954 to Agnew, the patentee attempted to provide improved apparatus that utilized the energy of solar rays for effecting a temperature differential between a quantity of water or other liquid and the atmosphere thereabove, to conduct the resultant vapors to a higher level, and then to condense the vapors and store the liquid thus provided. The vapors created power to generate electric current. A heat exchange was effected between a source of water supply and a quantity of the water obtained from the supply to increase vaporization of the quantity of water. This was apparently solved by a solar engine including the combination of a reservoir, a basin for receiving liquid from the reservoir, a differential-pressure conduit extending from the reservoir to the basin for passing liquid into the latter, a transparent dome for the basin (comprising a plurality of flat sheets for transmitting solar rays to evaporate the liquid in the basin), a closed-circuit thermo-siphon heat exchanger extending from the reservoir and into the liquid in the basin for increasing the evaporative rate of the liquid, an upwardly directed duct extending from the dome to conduct the evaporated liquid to a level above, and at a substantially lower atmospheric pressure, than that of both the reservoir and the basin, a condenser at the upper end of the duct to condense the vapors, means for removing free air from the condenser, a storage reservoir elevated above the first-mentioned reservoir, and a differential-pressure conduit leading from the condenser to the storage reservoir. The problem apparently to be solved by this patentee was to avoid the detrimental effect on the heat exchange characteristics of the presence of free air in the condenser circuit.
In a third system, that provided by Canadian Pat. No. 669,504 issued Aug. 27, 1963 to Podolny, the patentee desired to provide an arrangement for storing some of the heat energy from the sun so that it might be utilized during the intervals when the device was not exposed to the radiant heat of the sun; and also to provide a power-plant in which a chemical compound was used which could be separated into its constituents electrically, together with an arrangement for storing the constituents, to be later combined chemically for producing electrical energy for the powerplant. These ends were apparently met by a solar energy powerplant including the combination of a boiler, a mirror for concentrating radiant heat on the boiler, a turbine powered by vapor under pressure from the boiler, and a generator driven by the turbine in combination with an electrolysis device for separating a compound into its constituents, storage means for the constituents, a fuel cell in which the constituents are combined to produce electrical energy, and control means for selectively connecting the generator to the electrolysis device and to a load or connecting the fuel cell to the load. The problem thus apparently solved by this patentee was to store the sun's energy in the form of constituents of a chemical which could later be recombined to provide electrical energy.